Camping Round About!

“O fear the Lord, ye His saints: for there is no want to them that fear Him.” ~ Psalm 34:9

Fear is gripping our country and the news excites the fear each time you turn on the Radio or Television. It is good to know that we have a shelter in our God.  Psalm 61:3 encourages the hearts of God’s people! “For thou hast been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy.” The enemy comes in all sorts of ways to detour the saints from their position in Christ. In this Lenten Season as we discipline ourselves it seems the enemy is more rampant then usual. All over the world there is a Lenten Discipline going on in the true Church of our God. How the devil rages to see the saints taking stock of themselves and bringing there desires under the control of the Holy Spirit. For the Holy Spirit is our strength and constant companion. He will guide us through the difficult places. I turn to the Psalms for guidance, strength, comfort, and encouragement. David was constantly harassed by the enemy of his soul, but he never wavered in his Hope in God. Our country is at a turning point, will it honor God or accept the consequences. Those who honour God can depend on Him in any crisis. Psalm 34 calls for us to “Bless the Lord at all times: His Praise shall continually be in our mouth!” How do we measure up to continual Praise? This is the purpose of the Discipline to reflect on our Spiritual condition. David goes on to say “O magnify the Lord with me, let us exalt His name together.” This is the purpose of having a Church Service, that we might Worship together. In the time of trouble [Ps 27:5] “For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion: in the secret of His tabernacle shall He hide me; He shall set me up upon a Rock.” This day we will Pray together as we Worship and ask for the Blood of Jesus to cover our families from the distress of the day. David declares “I sought the Lord, and He heard me and delivered me from all my fears.” Know that the “Angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him, and delivered them. O taste and see that the Lord is good: Blessed is the man that Trusteth in Him. O fear the Lord, ye His saints: for there is no want to them that fear Him.” Ps. 34:7-9. Our Lenten messages began with the Joyful Path, a Path of Trust – this in not mere words, this is our passion, our trust is in the Lord. As we are Faithful to our Lenten Discipline which honors our Lord Jesus Christ, God rejoices! We are on the Joyful Path, it is called Salvation and it calls for Trust in our God! Ps.37:39 “The Salvation of the righteous is of the Lord: He is their strength in the time of trouble.”    Loving You, Pastor

The Joyful Path

“Let all those that put their Trust in Thee Rejoice: let them ever shout for Joy, because Thou defends them: let them also that love Thy Name be Joyful in Thee. For Thou, Lord, wilt Bless the righteous; with favour wilt Thou compass them as with a shield.”  ~ Psalms 5:11‑12

         

Who here is Joyful? Salvation should be a Joyful Path, however we are harassed by the enemy of our soul who hates our Salvation. We are admonished to “Put our Trust in God?” I know we do, but alas, the temptations of the evil one and his harassment seems periodically to overwhelm us. Good News, I’ve found some nuggets in Scripture that will help us follow the Path of Joy! We sing a most appropriate song, “It is Joy unspeakable and full of Joy” yet again it is hard to obtain that “fullness” of Joy. It is not we doubt the Joy that Jesus had in obeying His Father, that caused Him to accomplish the 40 days of temptation in the wilderness. There He was tempted by the devil himself and He overcame by the Word of His Father! We too must come to the place where the enemy of our soul cannot tempt us to loose the Joy of our Salvation. When we are “short” of Joy, and I’m sure everyone understands what that means! Well it means the devil is messing with our Salvation. I read in Scripture [Isa. 12:3] “Therefore with Joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of Salvation.”  Consider the Lenten Season when you think of Jesus’ Joy – the Joy that was set before Him. We must learn to approach our difficulties with the “Joy” – His Joy! For it is He who has redeemed us! Happiness can easily be short lived, but sincere Jesus’ Joy is Eternal. God had a Path for Jesus, it lead to Gethsemane and Jesus was willing to obey His Father, He considered it a Joy. But with that Joy He had to “give” His life. That is called a “Joyful Sacrifice!” Because He gave His Life, we now can draw Joy from His Sacrifice. What a Savior. Finding a Joyful Path is not easy, just when you think you’ve found it, it requires sacrifice. I hear the Wisdom of the writer of Proverbs: “Trust in the Lord with all thing heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy Paths.” In this Holy Season may we find a fresh Joy as we journey on His Path of self-discipline.  Let us embrace this moment. “Thou wilt shew me the Path of life: in Thy Presence is fullness of Joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.” Ps. 16:11 Loving you as we Join in this Disciple together, Pastor

Overcome Adversity

“Blessed is the man whom thou chasteneth, O Lord, and teaches him out of Thy Law; That Thou mayest give him rest from the days of Adversity …  For the Lord will not cast off His people, neither will He forsake His Inheritance.”  ~ Psalms 94:12-14

From the Pastor’s Study: When so much is going on around us, let us take it as a sign that we need to go a little Higher, and get away from the noise and draw closer to God. We see this in Jesus Life as He faced the Adverse conditions that the enemy brought against Him. Remember the times that Jesus went alone to Pray. Jesus rose above the Adversity. While we rise above the crisis, or the circumstance, it often exercises our Faith. Sometimes things are not going the way we planned, and we think God is not giving us the attention we desire – He is, it might be “no” or “obey Me.” He knows what is needed in our life to bring “Spiritual growth!” The Lenten Season comes now to challenge us to Discipline ourselves Physically and encourages us to take on a greater depth of Spiritual experience. No matter where we are Spiritually, there is always room for growth! Join in this Holy Season -- we are called to go higher! A Passage of Scripture that is quite familiar to the Christian is found in Isa. 40:31 “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as Eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk and not faint!”  Eagles is mentioned quite few times in Scripture: Consider the Eagle since we are reminded of them in that Passage of Scripture: Eagle’s don’t allow Adversity to get in their way. When faced with quarrelsome birds like the cackling crows, the Eagle simply files above them and with his great strength he soars higher than most birds can fly. Learn to ignore your enemies, rise above the ‘cackling’ that they try to disrupt you with. Always remember, when you’re distracted if is difficult to hear from God.  Could it be the Eagle is referenced in God’s Word because it symbolizes Great Strength as it soars above the distractions? God describes His eagles: Ez. 17:3-4 “Thus saith the Lord God; A great Eagle with great wings, long winged, full of feathers, which had divers colours …” How great is our creative God!  Pastor